The Dawn of Republican China

the dawn of republican china

The world's largest and wealthiest economy. The world's most populous country. The world's leading cultural and intellectual civilization.

The above platitudes have described China for most of its long and complicated history, but now at the start of the 20th century, the country is in ruins. The last Qing Emperor, Puyi, abdicated in 1912 because of a period of unprecedented catastrophe - natural disasters, wars, riots, you name it - in the 19th century and the inability of traditional Chinese institutions to deal with these challenges. But, in 1912, some of that despair was cast away when the Republic of China was declared. China was entering modernity, towards an industrial era, towards one friendly to democracy and liberal politics, and in this committee, you will have the opportunity to oversee that process. Can you, delegate, take the helm and lead China into the twentieth century?

grace quigley

Chair

Grace Quigley is a second year in the College from Nashville, TN majoring in philosophy and economics. This will be her second year of ChoMUN after staffing last year's committee, Nero's Senate, and she will act as chair in this dawning of a great democracy. When Grace is not building imaginary nations or proposing imaginary solutions to real-world problems in Model UN, she spends her time running, petting dogs, and auditing philosophy and Shakespeare classes.

maddy moore

Crisis Director

Maddy Moore will be one of your CDs for this committee! She is a second year in the college, hopefully majoring in Economics depending on her math skills. This will be her second ChoMUN, as she previously staffed the Bribesville committee. In addition, Maddy staffed MUNUC XXVIII and will be running a continuous crisis committee on the Cabinet of Brazil at MUNUC XXIX. Maddy grew up on the island of Martha’s Vineyard and has a strong dislike for Vineyard Vines™. Due to the large surroundings bodies of water, she has been sailing since she was 11 and is attempting to teach herself how to surf (harder than one would think). Other than that she loves hiking, watching old SNL skits, and playing with her dog (please ask to see pictures). She can be reached at maddymoore@uchicago.edu.

claron niu

CRISIS DIRECTOR

Claron Niu is a third year student in the College majoring in History. He was born in England but moved to Hong Kong when he was 11. Claron is especially interested in East Asian history and the late 19th and early 20th centuries, which brings him great joy - surprise surprise - to be one of your Crisis Directors for the birth of the Chinese Republic. This will be his second ChoMUN, as he staffed Nero's Senate at last year's conference. Aside from ChoMUN, Claron is involved in Environmental groups on campus (he like hugging trees) and some student clubs that bring speakers to campus for interesting events.